Thursday, July 19, 2007

Pope Benedict Is A Volcano

I smiled, but I wonder if Cardinal Bertone should have rethought his words there. Especially given the general media reaction to Papal statements of late.

p.s. Speaking of that...especially to the Protestant readers out there, of which there are quite a few...the best take on the Pope's recent declaration about Catholicism as the true Church by a Protestant is here (Bob Edgar, secretary of the National Council of Churches). A short piece of it:

The announcement came within days of a papal statement opening the pre-Vatican II Latin Mass to more use. That has been seen as the pope appealing to traditionalist Catholics around the world.

The statement last week can be seen as the pope saying to those same traditionalists: “Don’t think I’m throwing out Vatican II. I’m not. And here’s a restatement on the doctrine on the Church that keeps the door open to ecumenical dialogue.”

While some interpreted the restatement as shunning non-Roman Catholics, the most important section was virtually ignored by the media. “It is possible, according to Catholic doctrine, to affirm correctly that the Church of Christ is present and operative in the churches and ecclesial Communities not yet fully in communion with the Catholic Church, on account of the elements of sanctification and truth that are present in them.”

We Christians who are not Roman Catholic, according to the statement, can find “sanctification and truth” in our churches. That is a radical change from the days before Vatican II.